cabowen

I'm a Favre fan, for better or worse, but the wheels have really come off up there in Chilliville.....Wish they could have done much better so Favre could have finished his career with some dignity... Anyway, send me the scan from the GTM and I will have a look. I have the book but like nearly all my sword library, it is still in storage...

Looks like a kaigunto tsuba with a shingunto tsuka..... Is there a habuchi? Looks like it might be an oil quench or acid etched hamon....hard to tell from the pictures....

A better chance than the Vikings have this weekend against the Packers.... There were several prolific groups of smiths in Izumo with a nearby source for tamahagane so it would be a reasonable place to work...The fact that he used his personal name for his work might mean he did not have a formal teacher....

Late, low budget gunto koshirae.....

高井兼征 Takai Kane (masa), (tada), (yuki)- take your pick as to the pronunciation. Looks like typical Seki work....

I think your guess is a good one...I would go a step further and say maybe Kiyomitsu would be a place to look further....

first two are the family name, Kikuchi 菊池

It might have been a blade owned by someone who had it altered and mounted to take to war.

The mekugi ana is not in the correct location and the nakago is on the crude side...can't say much more than that from the photos....Sometimes they used a different material in place of same, usually a cloth-like material. Often seen late war when materials were short.... No treasure here.....I wouldn't waste my time with this one....

A few comments.... The best way to learn about a sword is to make an oshigata of it...That being said, it can take hours to do so properly. There are a few tricks and shortcuts that the pros use to save some time but even with those, it is still very time consuming. You need to get the right kind of paper, which is very difficult these days, and an ink cake (called sumiboku if I remember correctly). Namikawa in Japan sells it, or used to.... The biggest obstacle in getting others to let you make an oshigata of their blade is going to be concerns about scratches. It is very easy to put scratches and scuffs in a polish and once there, it costs major money to repair. I you willing to assume that responsibility? To get a start, you may find it useful to have several examples to show people. You may have to pay people at first to let you make oshigata in order to build a portfolio. I would recommend looking at some of the full length oshigata in the NBTHK journals for some examples of what to aim for... I would also recommend starting with tanto. They are much easier to work with. Once you get your technique up to speed, move on to longer blades. With digital photography available today, traditional oshigata have almost become extinct. I wish you well in your endeavor....

Not really. Just a functional piece, no signature.....

Mutsu Sendai ju Fujiwara Kunikane Kanekuni of Sendai in Mutsu. This is a famous line of smiths with many fakes. This mei looks a bit suspect.

Why do you think that there aren't those that hate it in Muramasa blades as well????

As I have said, all of my Japanese sword collector and shokunin friends always pronounced it josun, all the internet references read it josun, and I could not find a single internet source that reads it teisun......... Next year at the DTI why don't you ask all the dealers you speak to if they have any "teisun" katana and let us know how that goes....

Ain't that the truth.....

It is really quite simple: Swords are a rather poor investment for nearly everyone. With that in mind, a good sword is a good sword, no matter the period. Buy what you like and be sure it is quality and you will never have regrets.

Yes, it is a sad fact that most Japanese wives are of little use when it comes to things swords....which is what my wife says about me when it comes to anything other than swords.... Here is an easy way to check the pronunciation: type じょうすん and 刀 into your google search. It will return several Japanese sword pages with "定寸 (じょうすん)". For example, from: http://www.spacelan.ne.jp/~daiman/rekishi/shinsen02.htm: comes: 「定寸・じょうすん」という語を時代小説などでよく見かけますが、これは標準寸法で刃渡り二尺三寸（６９.７㎝）のことです。平均的日本人の扱いやすい長さが、この寸法だといわれます。 Then type in ていすん and 刀 and see how many pages it returns with "定寸 (ていすん)".... I think that should give you the answer....

Well, in any case, there seems to have been quite a few different shaku, which I suppose is only to be expected in Japan... I have often heard people say "jo sun" when talking about swords of the preferred length, but don't recall ever hearing "tei sun"....maybe one of our Japanese members can comment.

I think we can say with certainly that this daisho belonged to a samurai. Truth is, in Edo Japan, most Japanese were quite smaller in stature than they are today. It is even noticeable in present day when comparing the 80-90 year old Japanese and the high school kids. Not surprising at all that a samurai of the period would carry these swords.

Actually, if you look up shaku on the Japanese (not English) wiki page, you will see that there were quite a few more "shaku" used through history: From China: * 古代中国の嘉量による尺 * 漢代の尺 約23.09cm * 隋代の大尺 約29.4cm * 隋代の小尺 約24.6cm * 唐代の大尺 約29.4cm * 唐代の小尺 約24.6cm Native: * 大宝律令の大尺 約35.6cm 高麗尺に由来。土地の計量など。 (for land) * 大宝律令の小尺 約29.6cm（小尺一尺二寸＝大尺一尺） 唐尺に由来。平安時代以降はこれが一般的になる。 * 又四郎尺・鉄尺 約30.258cm 永正年間に京都の指物師又四郎が定めたとされ、大工が主に用いた。 (used by carpenters) * 享保尺・竹尺 約30.363cm 徳川吉宗が紀州熊野神社の古尺を写して天体観測に用いたとされる。 (astronomical observation) * 折衷尺 約30.304cm 伊能忠敬が測量のために又四郎尺と享保尺を平均して作ったもの。明治度量衡取締条例における曲尺の根拠とされた。 (surveying-an average of the matashiro and kiyoho) * 鯨尺 約37.88cm（曲尺一尺二寸五分） 明治度量衡法で25/66mと定められた 主に呉服について用いられる。六尺褌や三尺帯といったときは鯨尺の長さのことである。 またタオルなどの織物の場合、織機に使われる筬の鯨尺1寸（約3.787cm）あたりの本数によって密度が決められる。 (for dry goods) * 呉服尺（呉服ざし） 約36.4cm（曲尺一尺二寸） 主に呉服について用いられた。鯨尺の一種である。一説には鯨尺を五分短くしたところから出たともいう。 (also for dry goods but smaller) * 曲尺（明治度量衡法） 約30.303cm（10/33mと定められる） 又四郎尺、享保尺、折衷尺などを勘案して明治期に定められた。通常ただ「尺」といえば曲尺のことをいう. According the above, in the Meiji era, the government standardized the shaku, considering the matashirojaku (tetsujaku), kiyohojaku, seichojaku, and others, then defining the "standard shaku", called thereafter, the "kanejaku".....There was no "kanejaku" in the Edo and earlier eras according to this..... I believe the correct pronunciation is "josun".... Now we all know more about the shaku than we ever cared to....

Historically, there were different kind of shaku. From about 1891 forward, the shaku has equalled about 11.93 inches. A katana is considered to be 2 shaku and over (>23.86"). Thus, by current definition, your blades are a wakizashi. However, practically speaking, they were most likely used as katana.....

sword is signed Hattori Masahiro...

That is kind of a tricky question as the shaku has changed length over time....

No, he said they weren't interesting as he lived among them.....I suppose it is fairly common for students of history to ignore the present.... He will be remembered as perhaps the greatest scholar in the field....

There will be a shinsa in Minneapolis next October, 2011. You can submit then for papers. There will not be a shinsa in Tampa, at least as far as I know.